Anna Harrison

First Lady

• Born: July 25, 1775
• Birthplace: Wolpack Township, Sussex County, New Jersey
• Died: February 25, 1864
• Place of death: North Bend, Ohio

President:William Henry Harrison, 1841

Overview

The life of Anna Harrison gives insight into the founding and early progress of the United States. One of the earliest pioneer women to live in the Ohio and Indiana Territories, she was motherless at one year old, and her father fought in the Revolutionary War. She left the settled eastern community where she spent her first nineteen years to travel across the Appalachian Mountains and down the rivers to the new Northwest. This western land had dense, forbidding forests, areas of dank swamplands, and hostile Native Americans. Alongside her father and her husband, William Henry Harrison, she faced the trials and tribulations of the Western movement. Although Anna’s tenure as First Lady was brief, her life was one of intelligence, courage, and strength.

Early Life

The future wife of President William Henry Harrison was born Anna Tuthill Symmes. Her parents were Mr. and Mrs. John Cleves Symmes, who were married at Southold, Long Island, New York, in 1760. Two years later they had a baby girl they named Maria. John Symmes and his wife moved to Flatbrook, New Jersey, a village by the Flatbrook River near Morristown. While living there, Symmes was assigned to a post at the New Jersey garrison for the Continental Army. When her second baby arrived on July 25, 1775, Mrs. Symmes was in very poor health. Exactly one year after Anna’s birth, her mother died, on July 25, 1776. Maria was fourteen years old, and she and her father cared for baby Anna. The American Revolutionary War was under way, and at this time the British troops were gaining ground; some were moving south through New York State while others were moving north along the coast. Symmes feared for the safety of his young daughters. Determined to get his family to Long Island, out of the path of battle, he disguised himself as a British soldier and carried Anna on horseback. He cautiously maneuvered around the enemy’s camps until he reached the home of his daughters’ grandparents.

The Henry Daniel Tuthills were well established and respected in the Southold community. In this tranquil and very comfortable setting, Anna was well loved. The Tuthills were devout Presbyterians. Each day was filled with devotions, religious training, and educational pursuits. At her grandmother’s side, Anna learned the joy and importance of being a good cook and gardener. She attended the Clinton Academy, located near East Hampton. Later she studied at Miss Isabella Graham’s Academy, a boarding school in New York City. At these institutions she received an excellent classics education. These early years provided Anna with inner confidence, a strong work ethic, and social grace. In times of sorrow and tragedy, her religious faith sustained her.

The Revolutionary War ended in 1783, and Symmes settled in New York City, where he was appointed to the Continental Congress (1785-1787). It was during this time that he heard about land speculation of the Western territory. These were the lands later to become Ohio and Indiana. Symmes bought one million acres between the Great Miami and the Little Miami Rivers, both of which flow into the Ohio River. On February 19, 1788, the U.S. Congress appointed him judge of the Northwest Territory. It was a goal of the newly formed government to promote settlement; the judgeship gave Symmes the legal authority to divide the land into parcels for sale to homesteaders. In the next few years, Symmes’s acreage was reduced to 311,682 because he could not raise the money to pay for more than that amount of land. He built a cabin at North Bend, in what is now Ohio. His second wife, Mary H. Halsey, of whom little is known, died two or three years after their marriage. Symmes was lonely and returned to New York City, eager to see his daughter. In the same year, 1788, Maria Symmes married Major Peyton Short and moved to Lexington, Kentucky, near Fort Harrod. While visiting in New York and New Jersey, Judge Symmes met and married Susanna Livingston, daughter of New Jersey governor William Livingston. Symmes collected his young daughter Anna and, with Susanna, returned to North Bend. Susanna and Anna became very close companions and remained dear friends throughout their lives.

Maria Symmes Short invited Anna and their stepmother to spend the winter months at Lexington. Judge Symmes agreed this would be good for the two women. At Lexington they could have some social life and conveniences that were not available to them at North Bend. Another advantage was that they would be safe from any Indian attacks. The year was 1795 and Anna was twenty years old. She had developed into a poised and gracefully beautiful woman with a serious manner despite her youthfulness. She was about five feet, one inch tall and had a slender figure, lustrous dark hair, and large brown eyes. Her skin was smooth and fair. She had a dimpled chin and full lips.

At this time a group of soldiers had been sent to Lexington for a well-earned rest from the fighting that was being waged from Fort Detroit to the Ohio River. Among this group of men was Lieutenant William Henry Harrison from Virginia. He was a seasoned soldier who, upon his arrival as a young novice from the East, had been assigned to General Arthur St. Clair’s Fort Washington. Under St. Clair’s loose command, William learned that a young soldier confined to the fort life could easily fall into heavy drinking and dueling. Quickly, William decided to spend his time reading military tactics books and English literature.

At a social gathering at Lexington, William and Anna were very attracted to each other. Near the close of the winter season, William was sent back to war, as an aide to General Anthony Wayne. Anna waited anxiously for her sweetheart to return. This “waiting” for her William would become a big part of her life. The fighting came to a temporary close, and William headed back to North Bend with three hundred dollars of borrowed money and two packhorses. He had one thought in mind, to marry Anna Symmes. He asked permission of Judge Symmes and received a resounding no for an answer. The judge wrote his dear friend Robert Morris in New Brunswick, New Jersey:

A Mr. Harrison, son of the late Governor Harrison of Virginia, and presently a captain in the army and aide-de-camp to General Wayne has made Nancy [Anna] the offer of his hand, but he has not yet received an answer from me, tho’ I know not how to state objections, save that as yet, we are all too much strangers to each other. The young man has prudence, education and resources in conversation, about 300 [dollars] property but what is to be lamented is that he has no profession but that of army.

Marriage and Family

When the judge left on a business trip, Anna and William eloped on November 25, 1795. To date, Anna Harrison is the only First Lady of the United States to have eloped.

Again Judge Symmes wrote to Robert Morris: “If I knew what to make of Captain Harrison, I could easily make proper arrangements for his family, but he can neither bleed, plead, nor preach and if he could just plow, I would be satisfied.” Symmes and William, over time, began to meld their shared interest in Anna. Also, William proved that he could distinguish himself in battle and as a leader of men. General Wayne had high regard for Harrison.

On September 29, 1796, the Harrisons’ first child, Elizabeth Bassett (Betsy), was born. They were at North Bend while William commanded Fort Washington at Cincinnati. John Cleves Symmes Harrison was born in 1798. The growing family needed their own home, so William bought 169 acres of his father-in-law’s property. On it, Anna and William built a log cabin. Harrison had been appointed territorial delegate to the United States House of Representatives. Anna had not been East since she left New York City and must have been excited, as the wife of Delegate Harrison, to participate in that city’s society. Anna, William, Betsy, and John then went south to Richmond, Virginia, to visit some of William’s family; Anna had never before met any of her husband’s relatives. While in Richmond, she had her third child, a baby girl, Lucy Singleton, in 1800.

When at the new capital of the United States of America, Harrison was appointed governor of the Indiana Territory as well as superintendent of Indian affairs. The Harrisons and their three children moved from North Bend—near Cincinnati and Fort Washington—to Vincennes, Indiana, in 1801. Grouseland, the home-fortress they built there, was in the middle of Indian territory. Most of the local Indians had been given supplies by the British. Tecumseh, their leader, had organized the tribes to fight as one, when necessary.

Many an Indian council meeting took place at Grouseland, where Anna cooked and served meals to soldiers, dignitaries, and Indians alike. At Grouseland, their family increased to nine children with the births of William Henry (1802), John Scott (1804), Benjamin (1806), Mary Symmes (1809), Carter Bassett (1811), and Anna Tuthill (1812). William wrote to President Thomas Jefferson, thanking him for his renewal of commission:

I received the new commission and I beg you to receive my warmest thanks for this additional proof of your confidence and friendship. The emoluments of my office afford me a decent support and I will hope—enable me to lay up a small fund for the education of my children. I have hitherto found, however, that my nursery grows faster than my strong box.

Anna took full responsibility for her children’s education and religious teachings. She handled the gardening and management of the animals and land. She was a careless bookkeeper, however, whose finances were never quite balanced. From the beginning of her marriage, there always seemed to be some debt. In her other endeavors, Anna was praised. Guests in her home spoke of her delightful manner, entertaining skills, and beauty.

During the war years, Anna had to be prepared mentally, emotionally, and physically to protect her children against rogue Indian raids. Each time her husband said goodbye, she knew it could be the last time she and her children would see him or that he could be returned wounded. Many wives returned to the eastern states, including her dear stepmother, and Anna could have too. It was not frowned upon, the West being understood to be no place for a lady. She stayed, however, believing in her husband’s duty to his country. In 1811 William and his troops defeated the Shawnee leader Tenskwatawa, known as the Prophet, at the Battle of Tippecanoe.

The War of 1812 erupted, and William was promoted to brigadier general of the regular Army. Anna was sent to safety in Cincinnati, along with their nine children. She also took her ailing father, whose home had recently burned to the ground. Anna found the two years she spent in Cincinnati especially enjoyable. The Presbyterian Sunday school her children attended and the beautiful church music reminded her of her childhood on Long Island.

When the war ended, William returned a hero from the Battle of the Thames. The family went back to North Bend. In 1813 Symmes named his son-in-law executor of his estate. The judge died the following year. The Harrisons moved their plain little house from its original 169-acre plot to a new location and expanded it to twenty-two rooms. They called it The Bend. That year, their last child was born, a son. He was named James Findlay, after their close friend General James Findlay. The city of Findlay, Ohio, is named for General Findlay.

Anna hoped to have her husband remain near home, but her hopes were short-lived. William was elected to Congress in 1816. Upon leaving Washington, D.C., he was elected to the Ohio state senate (1819-1821). In 1825 he returned to Washington as a United States senator. While William was away, James Findlay died, at less than three years of age. Between 1820 and 1847, Anna saw the deaths of all their children, save one, John Scott. It was this son who was the father of President Benjamin W. Harrison (1889-1893). Anna Harrison is the only First Lady who had a grandson elected to the presidency of the United States.

Presidency and First Ladyship

While General Harrison, the “War Hero of 1812,” was being touted for the presidency, Anna, at this time in her life, just wanted to be home with her husband at The Bend. Pa and Nancy, as they affectionately called each other, were not only partners, they had a lifelong love. They did not seek any political reward for his military service. However, the new nation beckoned, and the slogan of Tippecanoe and Tyler Too was heard everywhere from the Atlantic seaboard to Indiana State.

William Henry Harrison became the ninth president. Anna did not accompany her husband to Washington, D.C. She planned to join him as soon as she recovered from influenza and completed the packing. A number of his relatives did accompany him, including Jane Irwin Harrison, the widow of their son William.

At sixty-five, Anna was the oldest wife of a president to date, and he, at sixty-eight, was the oldest president. During Harrison’s hour-long inaugural address in the bitter cold of March, 1841, he developed a serious cold and flu and died of pneumonia one month after taking office, making his administration’s term the shortest in U.S. history.

Legacy

The last twenty years of Anna’s life were spent at North Bend. Diligently, through letters and friends, she pursued the right to have franking (free postal service) and a pension of twenty-five thousand dollars as the wife of a former president. An avid reader and correspondent, she kept in close contact with friends and relatives. Anna always maintained her interests in current events, especially political matters, criticizing the direction of the Democratic Party on national policy. Her contact with family was illustrated well when she wrote her grandson Benjamin Harrison, later president of the United States from 1889 to 1893, that he should serve in the Civil War. Anna followed the news of the Civil War closely. She opposed slavery, as did all her family.

Born during the Revolutionary War, in 1775, she died at the close of the Civil War, in 1864. During her lifetime she witnessed both the formation and the preservation of the Union. A woman who had left the comfort and security of New York, where she was in the top echelon of society, had lived in a cabin in North Bend, with only a fireplace for heat and no conveniences at all. There were almost no women at North Bend, and none of her background; only fur traders, adventurers, and soldiers from Fort Washington. For a dignified, educated, and cultured lady, Anna defied most preconceptions. Though she spent her entire adult life as a pioneer wife on the edge of the rough and dangerous wilderness, the roughness never became part of her manner. As a mother, she kept her children close and guided their education and religion.

Without the wives and mothers who were her contemporaries, the Plains states and lands west of the Mississippi River would not have been settled until much later.

Bibliography

Anthony, Carl Sferrazza. First Ladies: The Saga of the Presidents’ Wives and Their Power. Vol. 1. New York: William Morrow, 1990.

Boller, Paul F. Presidential Wives: An Anecdotal History. 2d ed. New York: Oxford University Press, 1999.

Cleaves, Freeman. Old Tippecanoe: William Henry Harrison and His Time. New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1939.

Goebel, Dorothy. William Henry Harrison: A Political Biography. Philadelphia: Porcupine Press, 1974.

Green, James. William Henry Harrison: His Life and Times. Richmond, Va.: Garrett and Massie, c. 1941.

Healy, Diana Dixon. America’s First Ladies: Private Lives of the Presidential Wives. New York: Atheneum, 1988.

Whitton, Mary Ormsbee. First Ladies, 1789-1865: A Study of the Wives of the Early Presidents. New York: Hastings House, 1948.